‘Hot Tub Time Machine 2’ Red-Band Trailer #2: No Decade Is Safe

How many times can a studio cut a trailer for a film without showing off too much footage? In the second, very NSFW red-band trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine 2(and its third trailer overall), MGM and Paramount treat viewers to variations on the same scenes and the same jokes used in the first two promos released for the movie. There’s a little bit more Adam Scott in the mix here (which is never a bad thing), but that’s about it.

The biggest addition to this teaser is a slight edit made to the story’s timeline. Remember back when Hot Tub Time Machine 2 had a Christmas Day release in 2014? Well, recall how that got pushed back to this coming February, which necessitated minor re-calibrations to the cast’s future-hopping. Instead of 2024, they’re going to warp to 2025 to preserve the script’s integrity, because at this point it just wouldn’t do to pretend that it’s not 2015.

Other than that, same trailer, but if you laughed at these gags once, you’ll probably laugh at them again. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 now takes place five years after the events of the original movie, as Lou (Rob Corddry), Nick (Craig Robinson), and Jacob (Clark Duke) take another dip in the titular Jacuzzi, sans John Cusack, to unravel the truth behind an assassination plot. Someone wants to kill Lou for reasons unknown, and the gang is going to figure out who, and why.

So, really, it’s just an excuse to screw around with period costumes and envision 2025 through as zany a near-future sci-fi lens as possible. And how about that Adam Scott? Guess he needed a break after completing his Parks and Recreation duties, which is fine; he’s a funny guy, and he should fit right into the film’s “dick jokes, boobs, and drugs” style of comedy. We’ll see in a month.